Day 82 - I Don't Remember

I am loathe to blabber on about good service in case I am made to eat my words later. But I have to tell you this story because it was so completely unexpected. As you know we are in the process of setting up a business. Part of that process is to find suppliers, obviously, and so off to Stoke we went a couple days ago to a wholesaler called Bookers.

A trade wholesaler is just another wholesaler in my mind. You need to be registered to be able shop there i.e. you need a card and it’s a warehouse filled with racking and products in bulk, there’s a bunch of trolleys (once again I was attracted to probably the only trolley that had artificial intelligence and wanted to go its own way the whole bloody time!) and its self-service. You know what I’m talking about, a Makro / Trade Centre type place. Understandably, I’m sure you’ll agree, my service expectations were quite low. We were about to become new customers, we had the required documentation with us and we arrived at the door. Wooosh, a bit star trekky, it opened. And there stood John, the catering development manager who had no idea we were coming but made us feel like he was welcoming us into his mom’s home.

He filled the forms in for us, explained every step of what would now happen and then gave a guided tour of the key areas, giving us samples of stuff to take home and try, discount vouchers, catalogues etc. And then he left us to browse. And in that browsing time he checked on us three times to make sure we had found everything and to answer any questions. So why is this remarkable? For me – and you will have your own view I’m sure – this is what service is all about. Yes, between the lines he was selling to us, not a product but the whole of Booker. How many times have we made decisions not to go back to a certain shop or restaurant because of the experience we have had with one individual? This time we will go back willingly because we met him. We will tell the world because we met him. The cost of his training will be covered by the money we spend with that organisation. And we are only one small business.

So why are they the preferred wholesaler to the trade? Why do they have 180 stores and growing when others are falling over? The stuff they sell you can get from a multitude of other retailers, some items will be cheaper, some more expensive. Here’s my view. I think that companies like Booker have realised that to have competitive edge in a fairly gloomy trading environment they need to train their staff to sell the whole experience without hard selling anything. Simplistic I know but think about it. I want to and I’m sure you want to, support companies that I think like me, that I think will give me a bit extra, that I think will help me if I need help. I’m not naïve enough to think that they really will but make me feel good about being there and you’ve got me. Make me feel like a number, and I’ll go elsewhere. I think this is what has happened over the past few years. The sharp companies have realised they need to be different in an era of a tough market.

Has it always been like this? I don’t remember these thoughts even entering my head when we used to live here all those years ago. I don’t recall been blown away repeatedly by good service, like we have been recently. There might well be a lesson here for aspiring retailers in SA where, let’s face it, the service levels often leave a bit to be desired. Is this the way it’s done now? I hope so.

Village life is a bit different. Last night as part of the PR of this ancient pub, we invited the Parish Council round to come and see the works done. Nice villagy type people they were, they liked what has been done so far I think but I couldn’t help wondering about their place in the bigger scheme of things, this in the fast paced life of the 21^st century. I guess I’ll understand this a bit better in the time to come.

Until tomorrow.